Episode 1845 (7 October 1999)
Synopsis Kathy tells Pauline that she thinks Mel is on a par with Cindy, and then Jeff and Mel come past and Pauline is very brusque with them. They go to the café and Carol is crying. She tells Sonia Uncle Derek phoned, and Nan's in hospital and it looks bad. Sonia says don't be too upset because she's always been happy. Jeff asks Pauline if she was brusque because of what he said yesterday, and Pauline says Kathy had a right to know. Mel asks Kathy if she's done something wrong, and Kathy says sharply yes, she's heard about Mel's visits to Steve in prison and she knows her game and won't let her take Ian to the cleaners. Mel is astonished. She finds Kathy and says that she visited Steve once, to tell him to keep away from her, and that Kathy slept with a vicar, and how does it feel to have people digging around in your past, and Mel shouts after Kathy that she can give as good as she gets. Kathy runs off with her tail between her legs. Nina's at work and Kathy walks in and asks for a large vodka and tonic and Nina says she is serving someone at the moment. Kathy asks Nina if she's always as pig-ignorant, and what's her problem. Nina says you don't want to know. Steve's lawyer is miles better than Matthew's. Beforehand, he tells Steve that jurors aren't made of the same stuff as he, and he shouldn't be too cool. Steve says OK, more emotion, fine. The barrister starts off saying that Steve arrived in Walford and befriended a young man whose parents had deserted him, and that he suggests Steve is only here today because Steve had become Matthew's father figure and Matthew was the son he had always wished for, and Steve couldn't face the thought of handing him over to the police. He preferred to break the law to prevent Matthew wasting his life in prison. Steve then gives a sterling performance. He says he became friends with Matt because he felt sorry for him, Matt found it hard to cope when his parents left, and he thought he'd give him a break - Matt seemed pathetic and was hanging around the club and they both had the same taste in music so he let him DJ (even though he wasn't a professional) just to give him some self-respect, as he was feeling so low, to make him feel that someone cared. He goes on to say that he's sorry to say it was his idea to bury the body - Matthew was shocked and distraught and he had to do something. Steve does a huge acting job in the dock. He says he thought his life had already been ruined and he didn't want to ruin another one. He does a rather accurate impression of Matthew's reactions the days after the death. He says he can't get the picture out of his mind of her lying on the floor - however much trouble she had caused, he had once loved her, and it has haunted him ever since. His lawyer says thank you in a smug way. Matthew's lawyer has a go, saying that he's lied frequently - e.g. helping Mrs Fielding look for her sister. He says that Steve's patience with Saskia ran out and Matthew had no reason to hurt her. Steve says Matt was just pulling her off him, and that's what Matthew should have done - he should never have picked up the ashtray. Steve puts in a good performance. The CPS asks why Steve reported the murder. Steve says he wanted the police to find him before he made things worse. She also says perhaps he wanted to get his lies in first, and points out that first he says he didn't tell the police to protect Matt, then he did report him.. to protect him. Steve flashes a last (perfectly judged) desperate hopeless look to the jury. One forensic scientist says the fatal blow was struck from behind, not in front. However the other scientist says it couldn't be proved. Matthew gives evidence and says he was impressed when he met Steve, flash car, etc and he wanted to be like Steve and looked up to him. Matthew says when he went into the office, Saskia was on top of Steve and he dragged her off, etc, and tells the truth. He says he grabbed the phone to call the police, but Steve wouldn't let him. He says that Steve comes across as very cool but just below the surface... he turns around and says it as if to say "you're next". He says Steve told him that he would get sent down by Steve and that he wouldn't survive in prison. Steve's lawyer asks him why he accepted money from Steve and then lied about doing so to the police. The lawyer says that he lost his temper and killed Miss Duncan and manipulated Steve into giving him money, and he was planning to leave the money. Jamie gives evidence saying that Matthew was really upset after the day, and that once Matthew said he had something to tell him, and Steve walked in, and Jamie says Matthew's exact words were "It wasn't my fault." The lawyer suggests that that implies Matthew did something wrong but he didn't mean to. Jamie sticks up for himself wonderfully, saying no, that depends how you say it and Matthew said "It wasn't *my* fault." The judge tells him to answer the specific question, and Jamie replies "I have done, and I swore to tell the truth, and I'll tell it how I saw it not how she wants me to." Jamie walks away and Steve jumps up and shouts that he's a liar and he stood there telling a pack of lies, and he's just Matthew's mate. Steve is taken away, but not before he has made a very dramatic impression on the jury. Nina sees Grant in the square and he smirks nastily at her and says "He would never stoop as low as her." she replies "I might just wipe that grin off your face - I may have slept with a lot of people but not my sister-in-law ...oh I see you're not smiling any more." Grant says he slept on the sofa, and Nina says shall I tell Phil and see who he believes? Grant says he and Phil have problems - Nina replies "Of course you do, you're sleeping with his wife." Grant grabs her and Nina says "Get off me." Grant says "I'm sorry." Nina says "Too late." Credits Main cast *Kathy Mitchell - Gillian Taylforth *Melanie Healy - Tamzin Outhwaite *Jeff Healy - Leslie Schofield *Pauline Fowler - Wendy Richard *Carol Jackson - Lindsey Coulson *Sonia Jackson - Natalie Cassidy *Grant Mitchell - Ross Kemp *Nina Harris - Troy Titus-Adams *Steve Owen - Martin Kemp *Matthew Rose - Joe Absolom *Jamie Mitchell - Jack Ryder Category:Episode Category:1999 Episodes